1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to automotive vehicle doors and more particularly to an arrangement of a glass stabilizer for stabilizing a door glass or window pane of an automotive vehicle door.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A glass stabilizer is widely used in an automotive vehicle door, particularly of the frameless type for stabilizing a door glass, i.e., for preventing the upper portion of the door glass from swinging in the vehicle width direction during upward and downward movement of the door glass or when the door glass is in a half open position or in a fully open position.
An example of a prior art glass stabilizer is shown in FIG. 3 in which the reference numeral 1 indicates a door main body consisting of a door inner panel 2 and a door outer panel 3 which are joined to have a closed section. A door glass 4 is accommodated in the door main body 3 in such a manner as to be movable upwardly and downwardly being driven and guided by an unshown window regulator. A glass stabilizer is generally indicated by the reference numeral 5 and installed in the door main body 1 at a location adjacent a door waist opening 1a through which the door glass 4 moves outward or inward of the door main body 1. The glass stabilizer 5 consists of a base member 6 secured to a bracket 8 which is in turn secured to an upper end portion of the door inner panel 2 with a bolt and nut 9 and a roller 7 rotatably mounted on the base member 6 in such a manner as to rollingly contact the window glass 4. A bolt accommodation hole of either of the above described base member 6 or bracket 8 is formed into an elongated hole which is elongated in the vehicle width direction so that the location of the vehicle stabilizer 5 is adjustable in the vehicle width direction. A glass stabilizer arrangement similar to the above is for example shown in the Japanese Provisional Utility Model Publication No. 54-12252.
A disadvantage of the above described prior art glass stabilizer arrangement is that the glass stabilizer 5 needs to be installed on the door inner panel 2 after installation of the window regulator and then to be adjusted in location so as to compensate for some errors in installation of the window regulator, resulting in that the installation of the glass stabilizer 5 requires a long time. Another disadvantage is that due to the necessity of a reinforcement member 10 in addition to the bracket 8, the number of necessary constituent parts is increased to inevitably increase the cost and the weight. A further disadvantage is that a large part of the narrow limited interior space of the door main body 1 is occupied by the bracket 8 and the reinforcement member 10, causing a difficulty of arrangement and layout thereof in order to prevent them from interfering with other parts disposed within the door main body 1, resulting in increased restrictions on design of the door main body 1 as well as the glass stabilizer 5.